Tag Archives: baking

Mr 2 has just become a big brother! To help him get involved in welcoming his little sister home, I decided that I would make him a gift of an edible puzzle, announcing the arrival of his sweet baby sister 💕

It turns out that Mr 2 currently likes the tv show “Hey Duggee”. I drew inspiration from the character sets and came up with the cookies you will see below!

Here’s #howididit:

1) I made a sugar cookie dough:

Cream 200g of softened butter with 200g of caster sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Add to the mixture 1 beaten egg and mix well.

Add a tsp of vanilla

Add in 400g of sifted plain flour, and mix to form a cookie dough.

Allow the dough to rest, and heat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Once rested, roll out the dough and cut into required shapes.

Place the cut cookie dough onto lined baking sheets and then bake until golden brown.

Allow the cookies to cool, and then package as required.

2) Once chilled, I rolled out the dough and placed the puzzle template onto the dough.

6) Once cut, I placed the pieces onto a baking tray and baked them till golden brown.

7) I repeated steps 3,4 and 5 with fondant while the cookies were cooling.

8) Once cooled, I stuck the fondant pieces onto their matching cookie pieces using edible glue.

9) I then smoothed the fondant with a smoother and let it dry.

10) Once the fondant was dry, I painted the cookies with food colouring mixed with a couple of drops of lemon juice, and added some fondant decorations.

11) I added some sparkle in true Nazzy Baker fashion, and Voila!!! The puzzle was done!
I’m yet to see Mr 2’s reaction, by I have my fingers crossed that he likes his gift. 😬

You can make puzzle cookies for a variety of gifts… follow me to see what other uses I have for this cool puzzle template 💕

I hope you have enjoyed this post:) If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me on Facebook messenger, or by email : nazzybaker@gmail.com
Don’t forget to like and share this idea with anyone that you think would enjoy it!
xx NaZzYbAkEr xx

Friday nights at my place are usually spent watching the food network, Food Safari on sbs, The Living Room’s chef Miguel, and Better Homes and Gardens fast Ed. (It’s a battle of the channels, flicking to each show during ad breaks)

Last Friday night I was inspired by an Argentinian Chef who made the traditional caramel cookie called Alfajores.

Alfajores can be described as a crumbly shortbread cookie, sandwiched with a caramel filling also known as dulce de Leche.

On Saturday morning, I set out to shop for all the ingredients I needed to make the Alfajores. I was determined to nail this recipe so that I can make it again for Eid celebrations in 3 weeks time 🙂

I happened to do just that! They were a huge success, and were demolished in no time by family and friends – which is always a good sign.

Here’s how I made them:

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cups flour

2 1/2 cups corn flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup butter

3/4 cups white sugar

3 egg yolks

1tsp vanilla essence

2 cups Dulce de Leche ( thick milk caramel)

Method:

1) Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy

2) Add the vanilla essence and beat to combine

3) Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating them into the butter and sugar mixture until fully mixed in

4) Add the baking soda and baking powder and mix again

5) Add in the flour and corn flour, and gently fold through until the mixture forms a dough. This part can get messy, and it helps to use your hands to form the dough.

6) Once the dough is made, wrap it in cling wrap, and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.

7) Roll the dough between two sheets of baking paper, and then using a round cookie cutter, cut the dough into rounds.

8) Once cut, place the dough circles onto a lined baking tray and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius until golden brown.

9) Allow the cookie rounds to cool on a cooling rack

10) Sandwich the cookie rounds together by piping onto one round, the dulce de Leche, and then top with another cookie round.

11) Serve your Alfajores with a cup of tea or coffee 🙂

These are mine:

I hope you have enjoyed this post:) If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me on Facebook messenger, or by email : nazzybaker@gmail.com
Don’t forget to like and share this idea with anyone that you think would enjoy it!
xx NaZzYbAkEr xx

With everyone fasting at my place today, I thought I’d make a nice classic dessert for the family for after dinner. Apple crumble is extremely popular in the Nazzy Baker household, so… that’s what I’ve made!

Here’s my version of the “apple crumble”! And yes… it contains coconut 😝

Ingredients:

Apple Mixture:

4 green apples

2 tblsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tblsp water

Crumble:

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup butter cubed

1/4 cup coconut

1tblsp cinnamon sugar (optional)

(You can add nuts and or oats as well if you like)

Method:

1) Peel and cube the apples and place in a saucepan

2) Add the sugar, cinnamon and water

3) Place on medium heat and allow the apples to cook and soften. They will release their own liquid and create a beautiful sauce.

4) When the apples are cooked, transfer them into a serving dish.

5) Prepare the Crumble using the ‘rubbing in’ method.

Add the cubed butter to the flour in a bowl.

Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until it is combined.

Add in the sugars and coconut and mix till combined.

6) Top the Apple mixture with the Crumble mixture, and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius until golden brown.

7) Serve hot, with a dollop of whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or a drizzle of custard!

I hope you have enjoyed this post:) If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me on Facebook messenger, or by email : nazzybaker@gmail.com

Don’t forget to like and share this idea with anyone that you think would enjoy it!
xx NaZzYbAkEr xx

I was approached a few weeks ago by a good friend, who asked me if i didn’t mind baking a cake for the Cancer Council’s Biggest Morning Tea to raffle off for some much needed funds. As usual i was happy to oblige, and donated this beauty to the good cause.

“When life gives you lemons… bake my Lemon and Coconut Delight Cake!”

Here’s #howididit:

1) I started off by using a vanilla cake recipe, substituting vanilla essence for coconut and lemon essence. I used the equivalent of 1tsp each. To the mixture, I added 1/2 cup of shredded coconut.

2) Once the mixture was ready, I added the zest of one lemon and gently folded that through the mixture. I then baked the cake at 180 degrees Celsius until it was golden brown and cooked.

3) As the cake was cooling I quickly made a lemon and sugar syrup to drizzle over the cake to give it a moist texture, and to enhance the lemon flavour. Once cooled, I drizzled it over the cake and let it soak through.

4) I prepared a cream cheese buttercream recipe with 1kg icing sugar, 125g butter, and 250g cream cheese and milk as needed to make the desired texture icing. Once prepared, I set aside a bowl with 3 tblsp of icing to colour with yellow food colouring.

5) I covered the cake with the icing and smoothed the sides the best I could, with a cake smoother. I then dabbed some yellow icing around the cake, and smoothed the cake with the smoother again to get the following look:

6) I then made a white chocolate ganache for the drip effect and applied that to the top and sides of the cake.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mums and mother figures out there. I hope you have all had a wonderful day, and that you were treated like the Queens that you all are!

Last weekend, I visited The Macadamia Castle which is located between Byron Bay and Ballina In Knockrow NSW. Our little family, drive between Brisbane and Sydney several times a year, and we have become quite fond of a few stops along the way. The Macadamia Castle being one of them.

This year I decided to incorporate our road trip stops into my baking blogs, as they have been a tremendous source of inspiration for both myself and my family.

With the Pacific Highway upgrades, people tend to miss out on some of the wonders little townships have to offer, and so I am hoping my new little project “On the road with Nazzy Baker”, will inspire you to stop by these places and discover what they have to offer.

I walked out of the Macadamia Castle last Friday with a big bag of goodies and a whole heap of “bakespiration”.

The first recipe I thought I would try is a recipe for my mothers day Honey, Coconut Macadamia cookies. #hereshowididit

1) Cream 200g of softened butter with 200g of caster sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.

2) Add to the mixture 1 beaten egg and mix well.

3) Add a tsp of coconut essence and 1tblsp honey. (You can adjust these measurements to suit your taste)

4) Add in some chopped macadamias. I added some chopped coconut and honey flavoured macadamias, however you can use plain unsalted nuts too.

My love for Biltong started many years ago, as a child growing up in Africa. When we first arrived in Australia, there weren’t many places close by that sold Biltong. In the last few years, South African shops are popping up all over the country, and especially in Brisbane, making it easier to get my hands on this delicious snack.

I’d like to make mention that Protea Foods make the best Biltong I’ve tasted in a long time! So if you would like to try it for yourself, head over to their website and order some: http://www.proteafoods.com/

Today I decided to Combine my love for baking and Biltong to create something truly spectacular! There are two ways to combine the two, ive selected the method below. Please look out for the other method at the end of this blog.

Here’s #howididit

1) I made a quick and easy vanilla cupcake recipe. ( recipe card available in my recipes section)

2) I chopped up one stick of Biltong into the tiniest of pieces, as shown below:

5) I quickly whipped up a white Chocolate ganche and using a piping bag, piped the ganache onto the cooled cupcakes.

6) I then sprinkled the remainder of the chopped Biltong over the top, and in true Nazzy Baker style, dusted bronze luster dust and gold glitter over the top!

The second method, of combining the biltong flavor into the cupcake, is to soak the biltong into hot milk, to infuse the flavour. Once infused, use the milk as per the recipe instructions. This method eliminates the chewy texture of the tiny piece of biltong in the cupcake.

I hope you have enjoyed this post:)
For behind the scenes baking stories, follow me on Instagram and Facebook ✌🏽
Don’t forget to like and share this idea with anyone that you think would enjoy it!

If you do happen to try this recipe, please share your thoughts with me 😊
xx NaZzYbAkEr xx